DIGITAL ELECTRONICS

LESSON 5: MINTERM AND

MAXTERM
(STANDARD AND CANONICAL FORM)
COMPILED BY: DR. MICHAEL ANGELO D. LIGAYO

09/21/2021
 1. (X + Y) (X + Y') = X

XX + XY' + XY +YY' =X
X + XY' + XY =X
X+ X (Y+Y') = X
X+X=X
X=X
Canonical Form
In Boolean algebra,Boolean function can be expressed as Canonical
Disjunctive Normal Form known as minterm and some are expressed as
Canonical Conjunctive Normal Form known as maxterm .

In Minterm, we look for the functions where the output results in “1” while in
Maxterm we look for function where the output results in “0”.

We perform Sum of minterm also known as Sum of products (SOP) .

We perform Product of Maxterm also known as Product of sum (POS).

Boolean functions expressed as a sum of minterms or product of maxterms

are said to be in canonical form.
Standard Form
A Boolean variable can be expressed in either true form or complemented
form. In standard form Boolean function will contain all the variables in
either true form or complemented form while in canonical number of
variables depends on the output of SOP or POS.

A Boolean function can be expressed algebraically from a given truth table

by forming a:

* minterm for each combination of the variables that produces a 1 in

the function and then taking the OR of all those terms.
* maxterm for each combination of the variables that produces a 0 in
the function and then taking the AND of all those terms.
Truth table representing minterm and
maxterm
Sum of minterms

The minterms whose sum defines the Boolean function are those which

give the 1’s of the function in a truth table. Since the function can be either

1 or 0 for each minterm, and since there are 2^n minterms, one can

calculate all the functions that can be formed with n variables to be

(2^(2^n)). It is sometimes convenient to express a Boolean function in its

sum of minterm form.

Example – Express the Boolean function F = A + B’C as standard sum of
minterms.
A = A(B + B’) = AB + AB’
This function is still missing one variable, so
A = AB(C + C’) + AB'(C + C’) = ABC + ABC’+ AB’C + AB’C’
The second term B’C is missing one variable; hence,
B’C = B’C(A + A’) = AB’C + A’B’C
Combining all terms, we have
F = A + B’C = ABC + ABC’ + AB’C + AB’C’ + AB’C + A’B’C
But AB’C appears twice, and
according to theorem 1 (x + x = x), it is possible to remove one of those
occurrences. Rearranging the minterms in ascending order, we finally obtain
F = A’B’C + AB’C’ + AB’C + ABC’ + ABC
= m1 + m4 + m5 + m6 + m7
SOP is represented as Ʃ(1, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Example – Express the Boolean function F = xy + x’z as a product of
maxterms
F = xy + x’z
= (xy + x’)(xy + z)
= (x + x’)(y + x’)(x + z)(y + z)
= (x’ + y) (x + z) (y + z)

x’ + y = x’ + y + 0 = x’ + y + zz’ = (x’ + y + z)(x’ + y + z’)

x + z = x + z + 0 = x + z + yy’ = (x + y +z)(x + y’+z)

y + z = y + z + 0 = y + z + xx’ = (x + y + z)((x’ + y + z)

Combining all the terms and removing those that appear more than once, we
finally obtain:
F = (x + y + z)(x + y’ + z)(x’ + y + z)(x’ + y + z’) = M0 M2 M4 M5

A convenient way to express this function is as follows:

F (x, y, z) = Π (0, 2, 4, 5)
Practice problem:
Convert Boolean expression in standard form F=y’+xz’+xyz

a. Minterms

b. Maxterms

c. Construct the truth table for minterms and maxterms